The Allen Americans extended their winning streak to eight games last night with a 6-2 win over Tahoe. Allen's all-time record winning streak is nine games, set in 2014-15. This is just the third winning streak of eight games in franchise history. The other two were in 2016-17 and 2014-15.
- Allen's win, along with Tulsa beating Idaho last night, has Allen two points behind Idaho for second place in the division with two games in hand. If Idaho wins its two remaining games (tonight & Sunday), the Americans will need six points in their remaining four games to claim second place.
- It was a slow start last night for two high-powered offenses, ranked #1 and #3 in the league in goals per game. There was no scoring in the first period. Things picked up in the second period when the teams combined for five goals. Allen scored the first goal 97 seconds after the second period puck drop. It was a power play goal by Brayden Watts. Tahoe responded with back-to-back goals in 93 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. Then it was Allen's turn to respond, and the veterans came to the rescue. Spencer Asuchak tied the score 2-2 just over two minutes after Tahoe took the lead, and Colton Hargrove scored Allen's second power play goal of the game to give the Americans a 3-2 lead, which they took into the second intermission. As you know, when Allen has the lead after the second period, it is pretty much lights out. The Americans' record when leading after the second period improved to 29-0-2-0.
- Allen added three goals in the third period, and it could have been more. The Americans had 13 minutes of power-play time, including a four-minute high-sticking penalty and a five-minute major for slew-footing. Allen did manage to get two power-play goals (Hargrove & Dubois), but missed on several other opportunities. The third-period even-strength goal was scored by Michael Gildon, as he became the 6th Allen player with 20+ goals.
- Recapping the goal scorers: Watts (23), Asuchak (12), Hargrove (25,26), Gildon (20) and Dubois (3). Three players had multiple assists: Katic (3), Sedley (2), and Gildon (2). Here are the video highlights, plus the game recaps from both teams:
- Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/tahoe-knight-monsters-vs-allen-americans-apr-10-2026
- Allen game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/04/game-recap-americans-win-eighth-straight
- Tahoe game recap: https://knightmonstershockey.com/news/2026/04/allen-scores-five-unanswered-to-defeat-knight-monsters-on-home-ice-6-2
- Two keys to the game in Allen's 6-2 win were scoring the first goal and winning the special teams battle.
- Allen has scored the first goal in seven of the eight games of its winning streak. The Americans' points percentage when scoring first is up to .894 (28-2-3-0),
- Allen was 4-8 (50%) on the power play, the second-best power play night of the season, only surpassed by Valentine's Day. The Americans beat Tulsa 5-3 with all five goals from the power play. Allen was 5-6 (83.3%).
- Roster news:
- Tahoe's leader in points per game, Sloan Stanick, has been suspended for one game for the uncalled elbow to the head that injured Landon Hookey, and will miss the game tonight.
- Defenseman Andre Anania has been loaned to the AHL Milwaukee Admirals, who play at home tonight (Chicago) and tomorrow afternoon (Iowa). It is a tough time to lose a top defenseman, but Coach Martinson wants players to get AHL opportunities as long as the AHL teams say they will play.
- Trevor LeDonne will take Anania's place in the lineup.
- Brett Mirwald will start in goal tonight, Marco Costantini will start in Wichita tomorrow afternoon.
- Landon Hookey will dress for the game tonight, but will play very very sparingly.
I will post the full lineup later today.
- Here is the game preview issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/04/game-day-preview-another-battle-with-tahoe
COACH MARTINSON'S POST-GAME COMMENTS
"Hookey was elbowed in the jaw, and there was no penalty called. I will submit that to the league for review. Hookey will be in the lineup tomorrow, but will only play briefly to get the game credit. He won't travel to Wichita with us after the game. We will do the same thing next week (Hookey playing briefly to get game credit) when we go to Wichita again, and then play Kansas City on the 18th, and he will have his five games played. We will have 20 players dressed for those three games, but we will be playing short a player, because Hookey will only play a few seconds."
"It was nice to get all of the power play goals and for Gildon to get his 20th."
"It would have been nice to get a goal on that 5-on-3. I really wanted seven goals."
"I thought we played pretty well tonight. Tahoe has some good players with a lot of offense. My whole thing after the second period was that they can't change their position in the standings; they just want to score. If we just play hard, we will be successful."
"We are loaning Anania to Milwaukee tomorrow. He will be playing two games, and the timing isn't great, but that kid deserves every opportunity he gets."
"Mirwald will play again tomorrow, and Marco will play on Sunday. Mirwald has been in a zone, and remember, he sat around for a month and had to wait for his turn. He has been outstanding. You don't get Goalie of the Year in the WHL and Canada West (college) Goalie of the Year unless you are really good."
Ottawa/Belleville is very motivated to help us in the playoffs, but who and when players will be sent remains to be seen. I would like to have some of those players here for the final game of the season against Kansas City."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen's points percentage is up to .625 with four games remaining. Here is Allen's regular-season points percentage each season since joining the ECHL. Steve Martinson coached teams are marked with an asterisk
- .736: 2014-15* (won Kelly Cup)
- .722: 2016-17*
- .710: 2019-20*
- .653: 2020-21*
- .625: 2025-26*
- ,618: 2015-16* (won Kelly Cup)
- .549: 2021-22*
- .542: 2017-18*
- .535: 2022-23
- .486: 2023-24
- .389: 2018-19*
- .299: 2024-25
- The points keep coming as Allen has won eight straight. Here is an update:
The totals for the eight-game win streak are 48 goals scored (6.00 average) and 17 goals allowed (2.13 average). Here are some of the individual accomplishments:
- Brayden Watts has points in nine of the last 10 games. He is #3 in the league in assists (47) and #3 in points (70).
- Danny Katic leads the league in goals (36) and shooting percentage (26.7%). He has an 11-game point streak.
- Colby McAuley has12 points (6G, 6A) and is +10 during this winning streak.
- Michael Gildon has points in eight of the last nine games. His totals are 15 points (5G, 13A).
- Harrison Blaisdell has points in seven of the last nine games. A total of 12 points (7G, 5A).
- Sam Sedley has points in six straight games, 10 points (2G, 8A). He is #3 in the ECHL in power play assists (24) and #4 in power play points (24).
- Colton Hargrove has 12 points (8G, 4A) in the eight-game win streak.
- Anthony Costantini +16 and Andre Anania +14 lead the team in plus/minus during this eight-game winning streak.
- There are only three playoff spots yet to be determined. One in the South Division and two in the Central Division. Savannah can clinch a spot today. The Central Division will likely go until the last game of the season. Here are the points and games remaining for the four teams competing for two playoff spots:
- It is a rare night when all 30 ECHL teams are in action. Even more rare is that all of the games are within the division, except one (Bloomington at Greenville), because they come from divisions with an odd number of teams. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/04/echl-today-april-11
- Who are the hottest teams in the ECHL heading for the playoffs? If you look at the current longest undefeated streaks, they are all from the Mountain Division, and two of the teams won't make the playoffs.
- 8-0-0-0: Allen
- 6-0-0-0: Tulsa - 22% of Tulsa's wins this season have come in the last six games.
- 5-0-0-0: Utah - 42% of Utah's home wins this season have come since April 1.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about average attendance. Allen will set an all-time attendance record this season. Here are the top five:
- 4846: 2025-26
- 4573: 2024-25
- 4571: 2015-16
- 4349: 2023-24
- 4340: 2016-17
LFG Red!
ReplyDeleteLet's make it 9 in a row tonight.
Marty = Fkn Legend
LFG is getting so tiresome.
ReplyDeleteYes!
You sound like a 13 year old.
What is LFG?
Delete